Challenger Hearings A Hit For Cnn Testimony Picks Up Ratings But Drops $300,000 In Ads

March 3, 1986|By James C. Clark of The Sentinel Staff

The presidential commission hearings into the explosion of Challenger have turned into a big drawing card for the Cable News Network. At the same time, the coverage has been an expensive proposition for the network.

CNN, based in Atlanta, has televised 20 hours of testimony to the commission and a Senate subcommittee during the past three weeks. The network's ratings have increased an average of 25 percent during its coverage of the hearings, said Bob Furnad, a CNN vice president.

On the first day of hearings, more than 2 million people were watching, according to a survey by the A.C. Nielsen Co., a national rating service. Since then, viewership has averaged about 1.7 million, substantially higher than the network's normal daytime viewership, Furnad said. The network reaches 34 million homes served by cable television service.

Furnad said the ratings show a high degree of interest compared to other special events CNN has covered. He said the network's ratings did not increase when it covered the 1985 trial of Claus von Bulow, who was acquitted of a charge of trying to murder his wife in Rhode Island.

The continuous Challenger coverage had proved costly for CNN, which canceled most advertisements during the hearings. Furnad said the network had no firm numbers but estimated that it had lost more than $300,000 in commercials so far.

In the hours after the explosion Jan. 28, CNN's viewership more than tripled, eventually reaching 3.4 million homes three hours after the disaster. When the shuttle exploded, the three major networks pre-empted their regular programming. Since then coverage by the networks and Orlando's three network affiliate stations has been limited to reports during regular newscasts.

The Orlando network affiliates, WESH-Channel 2 (NBC), WCPX-Channel 6 (CBS) and WFTV-Channel 9 (ABC), have covered the hearings using either their own Washington reporters or Washington-based reporters working under contract with the stations. News directors at the stations said they did not consider carrying the full hearings.